Jaipur Wednesday

We started the day with an elephant ride to the top of the Amer (or Amber) fort. This was built between the 13th & 15th centuries. The palace itself was completed in 1599 by Rajah Man Singh. There was a huge line waiting for the elephants. So, of course, the hawkers were out in abundance. A few Tshirts and tchotchkes later, we were on the elephants. Of course, then there were more hawkers taking our pictures, who would meet us at the end of the tour. The fort itself was impressive, with ornate marble and red sandstone entryways, public spaces with columns of elephants and lotus flowers, etc. There were beautiful interior gardens, and a “Hall of Mirrors” which was a pavilion lined with multiple mirrors and gold. Impressive.

We came upon a snake charmer who was coaxing a cobra up and out of his nest. He asked for volunteers, and, of course, I was there. I held the cobra and played with it. [Note to Harry: Doc says you’re gonna die!] There was an even older fort highter on the mountain that we didn’t get to. More hawkers on the way down, including our photo friends. 200 Rupees ($4.00) for 10 pictures isn’t too bad.

Then to a gem “demonstration” and more shopping. Many of the guys and I were getting tired of this stuff. After a little while, I excused myself and walked out into the neighborhood. Talk about Hotel Aroma! Again many of the kids wanted to say hi and have their pictures taken. Then, after I took some pictures of some cute kids, their older brother came out. He was perhaps 9, but probably spoke the best English of the family. Of course, he demanded money for the photo. I refused and walked away, but he followed me. Finally, when I turned in to the gem factory store, he couldn’t follow.

Then to the center city palace of Jaipur. This was the palace of the Maharajah with some unbelievable peacock painted doorways. Amazingly, much of it has NOT been restored, but still retains a wonderful color. Why? Because, instead of regular paint, they used the grindings of precious and semi-precious stones to prepare the pigments. Still vibrant after 200+ years. We went into the inner sanctum (but were not allowed to take pictures) with gold and silver paint on the walls, solid silver and gold thrones, and marvelous cloaks and distinctive dress on display.

The Maharajah had a keen interest in science, astronomy and astrology. He built an observatory with the largest sundial in the world (accurate to 2 seconds) and many other larger than life instruments for astrological research. I didn’t follow all the science (I had gotten somewhat confused even at Greenwich) and had a harder time with the accent of our scientific guide.

Back to the hotel for a little birthday celebration for Martha on our tour, then Ann and I went “Peacock hunting”. The peacocks were somewhat shy, but we took pictures of a few.

Dinner on our own. I would have liked to go out, but Ann didn’t want to chance a problem with her stomach. Also, one of the other couples e had met, Sal and Edie, had had a little problem as well, so we decided to stay at the hotel and eat at the “fine” restaurant. We had 7 altogether, as we also were with Sal & Edie’s good friends, Ed and Fran, and we invited Ritu to be our guest. As the native speaker, Ritu basically ordered for us and we all shared. We had chicken, mutton, veggies and prawns and dal. The prawns were supposed to be “spicy”, but it really wasn’t much. [Sorry Harry, too many people asked about the food] Ritu spoke of her childhood in the Himalayas, and how her family’s lives have changed over the years. It was fascinating to hear her perspectives. When the bill came, there was a 3% service tax, 2 types of education tax, 14% VAT on food, 15% VAT on beverages and an additional 20% VAT on alcohol. Is this what we are coming to???

Jaipur Tuesday

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving around Jaipur. We seem to be in this insulated little bubble, and aren’t getting into the heart of city life. We drove through the old walled part of town, and saw the old pink walls of the terra cotta buildings. This is the “Pink City”, but it was somewhat hard to see from up close. No views from a mountaintop. They took us to a rug factory where we had a demonstration of rug making for 10-15 minutes, and then we were ushered into the shop. The prices were very good for the rugs, and lots of purchases were made, but then there was shop for clothing and silk items. This can get tiresome. I understand some people travel to shop, but there are some who travel to meet and greet the people and get more of the essence of a country. Our guide, Ritu, sensed that and has offered to modify the program for Wednesday for those who don’t want to spend their time shopping. This actually is the first time I’ve seen a guide do this, so I am very impressed by her.

Pushkar to Jaipur – Tuesday

Monday afternoon, some went back to the fair; my lungs couldn’t take it and I stayed back. Ann went to take more camel and sunset pictures. Dinner, after a short earring misadventure, was more veggies. Saffron rice, Sukhi Bhindi (crispy fried okra), Paneer Lavabdar (fried “cottage cheese” in a tomato soup/sauce), Aloo Matar Sukha(potatoes and peas) and Chola Magala(chick peas), all in various sauces. Desert was my favorite: Gulab Jahun(fried whey balls in a sugary syrup). Sounds worse than it is, but it really is good. These had some pistachios in the center for an added surprise.


A difficult night as Ann had “Delhi Belly”. Better now but still a little tentative.

Tuesday has been a 4 hour drive to Jaipur. There were a few “camel jams” to deal with and the occasional goat herd. Once we were on the road, it was better. Stopping for a rest stop was interesting/scary. Here we are on a 6 lane highway. The bus pulls to the narrow middle and makes a U turn, and crosses the 3 lanes of traffic to pull into the rest stop. On our way back, he travels the wrong way on the shoulder to the turn, cuts across the 3 lanes, and then back into our original travel lanes. Only in India.

We arrived in Jaipur to the Jai Mahal Palace hotel. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan. The hotel was originally a palace of the Maharajah in 1745, and became the abode of the Prime Minister of Rajasthan in the 1860s. The grounds are immaculate gardens, with a huge chess set on the veranda. The pieces are Indian. Perhaps someone will play, although I notice that they really don't know how to set up the pieces correctly. Our lunch here was more of the same, but at least they offered Mutton Saagwala and a curried chicken. The desert included Gajur Ka Halma, a concoction of carrots cooked in milk and butter and then sweetened. Not my favorite, but a bunch of our people liked it.

Pushkar Monday

A restful night (not) as the fair is actually religious festival also, so they were singing most of the night over the loudspeakers at the campsite next door. I finally got to sleep at about 2:30 or so. This morning we went back to the fair to walk around. Camels, pigs, horses, more camels. Most of the camels were dressed for the festival, with colorful beads and scarves. We walked through the town down to the lake where the religious festival was actually taking place. Hundreds of people bathing in the water, blessing others, getting blessed. A few of our group went down to the water. We weren’t supposed to be taking pictures, but one tourist, an Italian, continued to ignore the pleadings of the guides, watchmen, and everyone to stop. I didn’t wait, but I expected his camera to have an “accident”. At least it wasn’t an ugly American. I wonder what he would have said if someone came into his church on Sunday snapping pictures.


The barkers are relentless. Everyone is trying to sell you trinkets. “No” doesn’t seem to help. Sometimes “Go Away” works. The kid who got me last night happened to show up again, and continued to bother me. At least this time, I got his name (Ali) and his picture. One of the guys in our group began to counter them by trying to sell the trinkets he had bought back to them. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not.

Walking the streets, we came upon our first monkey. Paul had said they were plentiful, but I haven’t spotted too many. We also came across a pig munching on the garbage. He was having a grand time, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Near there was a sign for the “Hotel Aroma” which, in that situation, didn’t exactly have the correct connotations!!! There was a booth for the Rajasthan Department of Herbal & Natural Medicine. Outreach is outreach. I wonder if they are Tweeting, also. Maybe I can write this trip off.

We went to the stadium where various events were taking place. We missed the mustache competition, but saw the dancing and turban tying. My “friend”, Ali showed up again and tried to sell me. One of our group, Sal, took some pictures of some musicians, and everybody demanded money from him. After he had exhausted the $5 he was carrying, there was a spirited discussion as to everybody else’s take.

On a more philosophical note, I just finished a book “India Calling” by Anand Giridhara. He is an Indian American, born in the US, who goes back to the motherland to re-discover his roots. He speaks extensively of the Indian culture of family and how stifling it can be, but also so warm and comforting. He explores the changing culture of India as it becomes more westernized and middle class. In many ways, I recognized the dilemmas, as he could have been describing American Jews (and probably many other immigrant cultures). And, he was describing America, also.

The middle class… had shifted its loyalties from an ideology that attended to the poor to one that served only themselves: they conceived themselves now as poorer versions of the fortunate, no longer as fortunate versions of the poor.

This struck a nerve with me as a good metaphor for current day politics in America. The New Deal has morphed into the Contract with America and No Tax Pledges. My Rabbi, Dan Zemel, once gave a sermon about how every people needs a story to tell. As the story changes, so do the people and the society. Our story is changing, and I’m not sure it’s for the better.

Pushkar Sunday

The train ride was 6 hours. - Although there was much poverty and lots of trash, we did come upon several more prosperous towns including Alwal and Ajmer. AHS - Despite my son’s love of long train and/or bus rides, it was not the most thrilling. The landscape is bleak, with a few areas that look a little more lush. The air smells of burning stuff. We arrived in Ajmer, the main town near Pushkar. Near bedlam at the train station, but I suppose this was status quo. We piled into waiting cars, and it took another 20 minutes to exit the parking lot. Again, traffic rules must be for other people, as cars were trying to travel in every direction at once. We had another half an hour or so to get to Pushkar and then to our campsite.


The site is unreal. The tent we are in is bigger than our bedroom. They have installed running water and even a bathroom with a shower as a part of the tent. There are multiple flaps, and electric lights. It was deadly hot as we arrived, but it has cooled off a little.

We assembled at the front and climbed into camel carts to go to the fair. Laying down on a flat cart was not easy. My back was protesting by the end, and many of the other people had similar experiences. We went over to the site of the fair and drove around in the camel cart. Think of a huge County fair or State fair with camels instead of cows chickens and pigs. There is a midway with a Ferris wheel and other rides. - But unlike, our county fairs, there were encampments of gypsies throughout the camp grounds. According to our guide, the gypsies are thought to be Roma that migrated from Romania, and that theory is bolstered by the fact that many have green eyes, which Indians typically do not. AHS - Kids hawking everything, and they are VERY persistent. One latched onto me and wouldn’t go until I finally bought some bangles from him. 11 for $20 was not a great price, but not terrible. He had started at 1 for $20. There were actually 12 bangles, but one dropped from the camel cart on our way out, and we did not bother to go back to get it. Once the rest of the kids found out there was a buyer in the crowd, they wouldn’t leave me alone. We did get to see the camels and more camels and more camels. The sun was setting and we got some good pictures. One advantage of the haze is it makes the sunset prettier. My lungs might not survive the smoke, however. I’m told the smoke comes from burning camel dung. Lovely.

The food is interesting. There is something about this district that is holy, so no meat is allowed to be served. Ann is in heaven, but I am craving some meatballs. Even so, it is plentiful and reasonable tasty. Tonight there was some cauliflower and potato curry, Okra and onions and tomatoes, and a bunch of different bean dishes from the local area, Rajasthan, including some fried beans. Desert was a type of rice pudding and honey-soaked fried dough in a pretzel shape. Maybe next time I’ll bring my notebook and write down the actual names.

Sunday, on the Train to Pushkar

Dinner was fun. The Odyssey company arranges home visits for travelers. There were 7 of us at the home of Anjuli, a 50-something manager of a bridal store. As we sat down and exchanged pleasantries, out came an 80-something distinguished looking gentleman, her father in law. He proceeded into a monologue and to regale us with stories of his past. He had grown up in a real estate family in north western India under the British, and the Hindu family had found themselves on the wrong side of the border at Partition in 1947. They had left everything behind in what was to become Pakistan and moved to Delhi to rebuild. He had gone into some kind of economics or accounting, and had worked for years for the Ford Foundation at various places around the globe. He had been able to invest in real estate and had done well. They owned the land in their development (called an Enclave) and the 3 story building with a flat on each level. Various family members lived up and down, and they had 12 in help. He waxed and waned about the state of affairs in India and the world, and India’s growing economic power. And, oh, there was dinner, too. Prior to dinner we had a fried potato, something like a latke, but smoother in consistency. Dinner was Chicken Biryani with rice, Roti, Dal (a yellow lentil), Paneer (a type fried cottage cheese), Okra sautéed with tomato, onions and some spices. Desert was leftover sweets from a wedding of her niece from the previous day. None of it was very spicy, as I’m sure the company had advised her to keep it bland for our American tastes. Other groups had similar experiences, with one going to the home of a cooking teacher who made them hand made chocolate.


We were up before dawn, and really got moving by a few minutes after 5. Our guide, Ritu, congratulated us, as few groups really are that prompt. A bus to the train station which only had 10 thousand people or so milling around. Ritu said this wasn’t too crowded. As in Bollywood movies, we half expected a dance routine to break out at any moment. The First Class car we are in looks like something out of the 60’s, with airplane-type seating and little drapes over the windows. The porter came around to give us tea, juice, newspapers, etc. The air outside is still gray and smelling of burning. The landscape so far is mostly filled with trash and tent cities and abject poverty for much of the 6 hour train.

Saturday Tours -

We started with the Shah Jahan Mosque.  This was built after this particular Shah conquered from Agra in 1635.  It was completed in 1650.  It is an unusual mosque in that it is completely open air.  There was only a small covered area.  In one corner is a shrine to Mohammed, where relics are kept, including a strand from his beard.  Maybe a toenail, too.  Inscribed on the walls is a long history written in Urdu.  Urdu is a language that is a combination of Persian/Farsi and Hindi, with essentially an Arabic script.  Sorta like Spanglish or Yiddish, I suppose.  We had to walk around this place in our socks, which wasn’t exactly fun, since the Muslims feed the pigeons and there was bird poop all over.  The other docs on the tour and I questioned the lung status of the locals, but figured there were other things to get them first before beryliosis.  Again the air was so smoggy, my eyes burned.

We exited the mosque and piled into pedicabs to take us through the narrow, teeming streets of old Delhi.  Walking and interacting would have been more fun, but that is not the nature of this type of tour.  So we went in a large circle, gawking the natives, and them gawking us.

We climbed back onto the bus to go to Raj Ghat, Ghandi’s Cremation Site.  There were literally hundreds of kids, all in school uniforms, marching up to the site.  That’s where the nature of the Indian people comes out.  All the kids were mugging for the camera, saying hi, and wanting their pictures taken.  Even some of the other tourists got into the act.  Ann took a picture of some Japanese girls, and I took a picture of an Iranian family (with a kid that could have passed for Yoda) and then the Iranians and the Japanese wanted their pictures taken together, and then with us.  Cross cultural fun. 

Off then to the National Museum.  This had artifacts from the earliest civilizations in India, the Harappans, who lived on the banks of the Indus River beginning in about 2500BCE.  This was a very advanced civilization with large cities of brick buildings.  There is no record of much earlier civilizations, but these cities seemed to spring up from relative nothingness.  There are writings that no one has been able to translate yet, as there is no Rosetta Stone.  The Aryans invaded from Central & Western Asia in about 1500.  They brought a new set of gods(Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and stories (including the epics, Mahabarata and Ramayana) which became the basis for Hinduism.  The artifacts were just “OK”.  Again, there were literally hundreds of school kids marching through, not looking at anything, and mugging for the cameras.   I commented that the Chinese were better artists and artisans during this same period, and their preservation and presentation is much better.  However, there may be a much better collection in the British Museum.  Aah, colonialism.

On our way back to our hotel in the “Diplomatic Enclave”, we passed the “Embassy of the State of Palestine”.  Hmmmm.  A) I didn’t know there WAS as State of Palestine, and B) that anyone was officially recognizing it.  Big modern building, too.

The late afternoon has been free, as we are going for home hospitality this evening.  Very early morning tomorrow (wakeup call scheduled for 4:15) and AIS at 5 for a 6:05 train to Pushkar and the Camel Fair.  Depending on electricity and internet access, we may or may not be able to post from there…

Saturday Nov 5

-It is 5am on Saturday, the 5^th, and the jet lag I had fairly successfully avoided until now has finally caught up with me, so I decided to include some of my thoughts from our first day on this group tour.  Braving Delhi traffic in a tour bus is a markedly different experience than driving in a small car.  I spent a lot of time not looking at what was going on when we were being driven that first day.  Since there is always a jumble of cars not quite in their lanes and pedestrians trying to cross the tangled roadways, being in a car was an immediate experience.  By contrast, observing the traffic scene from the height of a bus, you are much more removed from the whole scene.  What you cannot remove yourself from is the plight of beggars in India.  Wherever you go, there are poor women and children who approach you and it is terribly sad as you really can’t do anything for them.  One young woman who approached us with a young boy near the Sikh Temple had a very badly burned and deformed face.  I couldn’t help wondering if someone had thrown acid at her face.  Interestingly, when I asked our tour guide, Ritu, about the woman and whether she might have been purposefully burned or if, as another tour member suggested, she may have been maimed by her handler, Ritu made reference to the movie Slum Dog Millionaire as a short cut way of explaining the situation.

A few more words on the Sikhs.  At least in their written literature that we were given at the Temple, they appear to be a religion much more accepting of women.  Their stated philosophy is that woman is believed to have the same soul as man and has an equal right to grow spiritually and participate in religious rituals.  Sikh women also do not wear veils and at least the official Sikh policy is that dowry is not permitted.

I had brought some things for Nina, the daughter of my friend Debby Roumell, who is spending a semester in Delhi.  Last night Nina and her roommate came to our hotel to pick up her stuff, and Steve and I had the chance to chat with them.  It’s wonderful to see the ease with which college kids adapt to very different environments from learning to speak Hindi, to getting around Delhi to adopting a more modest style of dress.  Nina and Julia were wearing their “Indian Clothes” which they had bought here.  They were wearing jeans and sandals as kids anywhere do but they were both conscious of needing to wear tops that were not low cut and did not allow too much skin to show.  At one point, Julia noted that when she saw her knee in the mirror, her immediate thought was that she needed to cover it. - AHS

Friday Nov 4

Late start as the rest of the trip had arrived in the wee hours as we had the night before. After lunch, we headed onto the bus to see New Delhi. New being a relative term, since we first went to Qutab Minar, a 4th century burial place for Mughal emperors that had been converted to a mosque when the Muslims invaded in the 12th century. There was an enormous “Tower of Victory”, measuring 240 feet. Some of it had been restored, but it was mostly ruins. There were 28 temples for emperors buried here earlier that the Muslims destroyed for their mosque.

Then to a mini-Taj Majal, which was the burial tomb of Humayun, another Mughal Emperor, built in 1565. Elaborate gardens and lovely stonework. The weird part was seeing 6 pointed stars, ie “Jewish Stars”, on the wall of a Hindu tomb. It was explained that the 2 triangles were representative of the Masculine side (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and the corresponding Feminine side(Shakti, Lakshmi & Parati). It brought back Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in the Davinci Code, in a weird way. The air and smog were getting very thick, so pictures were a problem.

We then went to a Sikh Temple. We had to take our shoes and socks off to go in, and no pictures were allowed inside as they were having a ceremony. It was beside the fact that they were televising the ceremony, and cameras were all around. The Sikhs do not cut their hair or shave, thus the turban to put it all somewhere.

Venkat's Clubhouse, etc

-So, to fill in on lunch at Venkat’s Clubhouse, we had white rice, biryani rice, curried cauliflower and potatoes, a delicious chickpea dish with garam marsala, dal and roti, all expertly cooked by Raj. We were then served Chai, a very sweet milky spiced tea.


Dinner this evening was with our former neighbors Annie and Shibou Mathew. They lived next door for several years in the mid 2000’s while Annie was working at the Indian Embassy. Her territory was the entire Western Hemisphere for the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India. She is now back in Delhi as one of the Principal Directors of that office with even more responsibilities. Rowena, their older daughter, who was in Harry’s class at Whitman, finished college last year as university in India in 3 rather than 4 years. She is doing a masters in Environmental Planning and Strategy where the first year of the program is spent at a university in Budapest and the 2nd year is spent at a university on one of the Greek Islands. We had a delicious dinner at their home with them and their younger daughter Shannon, a friend of Jenna Kress’s (who she is still in touch with). Since this would not be a legitimate Rockower blog without describing what we ate—we had samosas first followed by chicken curry, rice dal, beans, cauliflower with spices, and another flat bread that was a typical south Indian dish (Annie and Shibou’s families both hail from Chennai, although they both were raised in Delhi). We had a delicious sweet for desert that was round like a donut hole and had cardoman and dried fruit in it. Annie’s driver picked us up at the hotel and returned us there at the end of the evening. As with all cars trying to approach our hotel, his car was stopped and the trunk and hood opened and searched before we were allowed to approach the hotel. AHS

Thursday Nov 3

Day 1.5+


-Rather than write a separate blog , I have decided to join Steve on this one. Since the whole reason for this trip was my birthday, which we ended up spending it in transit. November 2nd began early for us as we changed time zones on our way to England, with the 6 hour time difference, and the day ended early as we changed time zones again on our way to Delhi with the 9 ½ time difference between Delhi and Washington. On The Delhi flight, one of the flight attendants gave us a bottle of Taittinger Champagne just before we arrived. AHS

3am in Delhi. Just arrived to a city full of smoke/smog, smelling like a forest fire. I asked our driver if there was a problem, and was told, “It’s winter”. The smoke is thick, and somewhat burns my eyes. We’ll see in the morning if it persists. It doesn’t look as bad as the smoke in Xian, but time will tell. The flight was only interesting in that as we were getting ready to land, I suddenly felt something fall on my head. I looked up and saw the oxygen masks hanging down. “Oh shit” I thought, but I looked around and saw that none of the other seats had their oxygen masks hanging. Just a snafu of that door, but it startled me.

This hotel, the Taj Palace, is nothing that my son would ever be found in. The place is on lock down, with armed guards at the gates. They looked under the car with mirrors, and opened the engine compartment and trunk. We went through xray screening coming into the front door. Wow. The room looks like one we were in in Beijing, with a glassed-in bathroom. Similar architecture around the world for high end hotels.

Thursday

Slept late. We were picked up for lunch by Paul’s friend/mentor/older brother, Venkat. We went to “Venkat’s Clubhouse” for a delicious meal of veggies. Maybe Ann can fill in the details of what exactly was in the meal, but it was good. Then off to a government crafts fair where Ann bought some pashmenas and some stones for Ellen. We also stopped to watch a Bollywood movie being shot in the market. Nobody we knew or ever that Raj (Venkat’s cook) had heard of. They tried to take us to another Emporium for more shopping, but we had had it. Tonight we’re going to the home of a former neighbor from Bethesda. Unfortunately, we have to drive there. Driving in this town is crazy. The drivers are not watching where they are going, and lane markers are merely suggestions. It is not unusual to squeeze 3 or even 4 cars across a 2 lane road.

Day 1

Dulles-> Heathrow

So off we go.  We are now in the air, on British Air to London.  We had some problems getting out of the house in one piece with all of our belongings.  We only stopped back once (for the tickets and passports, etc) and had Paul email multiple other things once we arrived at the airport.  Aah, electronics…

Dinner was edible, but it had better be for business class.  Tomato & Mozzarella, Chicken tikka masala with basmati rice and dal (a mashed potato-like substance) which was pretty good, and a dreadful chocolate cake for desert.  I’m going to try to drink myself to sleep….

Heathrow

Sitting in the BA lounge finally.  We had a slight detour, as Ann read the boarding passes incorrectly, and we went to Terminal 3 from Terminal 5 only to find out we had to be at Terminal 5.  A couple of buses and 2 security checks later, we’re now waiting for our next flight to Delhi.

Bulls Island

Ok, so we went to Bulls Island to see the sights.  It supposedly is a nature preserve.  The trip there was cute with a fun Naturalist giving information about the flora and fauna of the marshes and the coastal areas of the Carolinas.  What he didn't mention was the bugs.  We tried to walk the 2 miles to "Alligator Alley", but could only get half way because I was a walking bug restaurant!  They feasted on me!  I probably has 300 bites on my arms and legs.  We turned around to go back to the water's edge where the wind kept the bugs away.  Harry kept going on to the East Beach to see the dunes, but he was eaten also.  On the way back, the tide had turned, and the water had fallen 5 feet to expose the oysters and the mud flats. 

Charleston October 15

We're here in Charleston visiting Harry for the weekend. I'm reacquainting myself with blogging in preparation for our upcoming trip to India. Ann is VERY prepared; I'm getting myself there. As for this weekend, it should be fun and fattening!
The trip here had an interesting twist.  For the first time in my life, I encountered a rude Southwest Airlines agent.  I was making the horrid mistake of carrying a suitcase, a computer bag AND a camera bag.  It seems that in this fascist era, that is too much.  She came down the ramp after me and yelled about how I couldn't do that.  I tried to blow her off, but she insisted we do something.  She also yelled at Ann for carrying her suitcase, her purse and her camera.  "Six bags between you two!!!"  When I tried to stuff my camera into my suitcase (which actually worked), she started yelling about how it was going to damage the overhead bins.  I basically told her to go away, it would be fine and I kept going.  The people behind us volunteered that they would have been willing to carry the camera!

Tuesday Oct 5 Shanghai

We got up to go on the Jewish tour.  I was feeling OK; not great, just OK.  We went to the Peace Hotel, an old classic art deco place from the 1930s.  We met the group, who were not hard to spot.  Our guide was Dvir Bar-Gal, an Israeli journalist who came here 9 years ago for a story and stayed.  More about his story later.  I won’t go into all the details, but basically the story of the Jews here comes down to 3 families:  the Sassoons, the Khaduris, and the Harduns.  They were Iraqi Jews who came to China to do some trading of opium starting with Elias David Sassoon in the mid 1840s.  The Khaduris and Hardouns came later as clerks for the Sassoons, and struck out on their own.  The Peace Hotel, which once was the tallest building in Shanghai, was built and lived in by one of the Sassoon descendents.  When troubles began in Europe in the 20s and 30s, Jews came here because of a long standing tradition of open immigration in Shanghai.  No visa needed, just show up and test your luck.  When the Germans really began to crack down in the later 30s and during the war, several Japanese Righteous Gentiles, Mr Sugihara and Doctor Ho wrote thousands of exit visas in Lithuania and Vienna respectively to allow people to get to Shanghai, then in Japanese hands.  The Germans tried to impress on the Japanese how unsuitable the Jews were, but they really had no history of anti-Semitism, so they really could care less.  They did accommodate them by making a ghetto for “stateless persons” arriving after 1937, which certainly did not include all the Jews.  After the war, most of the Jews left for Israel or America, but there are a number remaining. 

Dvir also told us of his “calling” and why he has stayed in Shanghai.  In looking for the Jewish cemeteries, he found that none were left.  One was the site of an office, one a shopping center, etc.  What happened to the headstones? He began looking and found them as walkways, chopping blocks, buried in swamps, etc.  He has been collecting them and is trying to convince the Chinese government to allow a memorial site in the old ghetto area.  Chinese bureaucracy is Chinese bureaucracy.  He is still working at it, but wasn’t even able to ask for donations, as he is still too far from approval fro the project.

We had lunch at a snack shop in the Bund area where the Peace Hotel with a couple from New York who was on the Jewish tour.  The 4 of us then went to the Expo.  Here was our only rip-off of the entire trip, although it wasn’t much.  The taxi took us on a very long ride around Shanghai until we reached the entrance gate.  I wasn’t completely sure until the ride home was less than 1/3 the price.

The Expo is huge.  People, people, people.  And we were there late in the day when the crowds were less!!  We walked in by the huge China pavilion, but the lines were 2-3 hours long.  Israel was nearby, and we went to the VIP entrance, and flashed our passports with Israeli stamps from our trip in the spring.  Sometimes it helps to be Jewish!  The exhibit emphasized Israel’s strong intellectual prowess and technological achievements.  They finely tuned the message to match the Chinese exhortation of A Better Life.  The one thing I was surprised they didn’t include was a reference to the age of the Jewish People.  The Chinese are always talking about the fact that they have been a people for 5000 years with the same language to which I say “So?”.  But al least now the Chinese have some value in tradition and history, and we can share that with them.

After Israel, we hit Cambodia and the Shanghai City exhibits, both of which were pretty lame.  We chose our sites by the line length and how far it was to walk.  Very practical, but enough already.  We had walked around for a few hours at the Expo, and most of the day on the Jewish tour.  We were beat.

Monday Oct 4 Shanghai

This has been a weird 24 hours.  I woke up with a feverSunday and felt like total crap.  I dragged myself through the Shanghai museum, which was wonderful, but I couldn't really appreciate it.  I spent the rest of the day in bed, schvitzing.  Bah.  Ann went on to the pagoda, park and other stuff including the acrobat show.  I don't think I'm too upset to have missed them.

Jewish tour today, and then the Expo

Sat Oct 2 Shanghai

Early plane flight.  It's interesting how we react to different guides.  Li, from Xian, was friendly enough, but had some very annoying speech patterns.  One of them was that she wouldn't shut up.  Every second, she was talking, whether or not there was anything new to say.  She repeated herself on everything.  She tried, but it got on our nerves.

We awoke to a beautiful blue sky day.  It might have changed a lot about our feelings of Xian, but I doubt we're coming back to check it out.  Maybe we're both getting Paul's SAD, and hating the gray weather.

We arrived in Shanghai to more of the same weather.  We were met by "Charlie", who said we couldn't pronounce his real name.  Driving around this city of 20 million, we were amazed to see that it is built on a very human scale.  The land here is very flat, and you can see for miles.  It is all city, but there are low buildings and medium sized buildings and a few very tall buildings.  Yes, it goes on and on, but it feels very manageable from the ground.  Despite the mist, we could see the architecture is very varied and interesting.  Lunch was at another touristy place, but at least there were lots of Chinese there also.  We overlooked the river and the Bund area, where most of the buildings dated to the 1930s.  An oasis of classicism in the middle of modern.

After lunch, we were delivered to a shopping street.  Again, this was not only westerners running around.  Since it was now raining, we bought some umbrellas and sat at a coffee place to people watch.

We had to negotiate with Charlie about Monday.  Ann had booked a separate Jewish tour of Shanghai, and the conflicted with their plans for us.  Charlie realized that he could give us our Monday dinner tonight, and then we would be free to go to the Expo.  The only problem was the tickets for the Expo, since we were booked as a "group" at a specific time to go in.  So we will abandon those and just walk in when we get there.  Chalk it up to stupidity tax.

Dinner was at another touristy place with dancing girls.  Again, most of the crowd was not Caucasian, but the meal was again nondescript.  I fear most of Shanghai will be like this for the food.  Tonight had been our chance to be on our own.

After dinner, we tried to walk around, but the rain and wind really prevented much walking.  We went back to our hotel (one of the tall buildings), and had a drink from the bar on the 50^th floor.  Even with the mist, the view was spectacular.  Many of the buildings have lights, either on the upper floors and roof, or on the sides.  There was a kaleidoscope of colors.  The elevated highways running through this part of town have blue lights underneath, giving a blue glow to the streets below.  Many of the buildings have the same light pattern on them, with a blue neon light running around the upper floors with the white lights above.  Cute.  We could see the Expo, which is about a mile or so from our hotel.  It  is on either side of the river, with a bridge joining the halves.  The bridge had a rainbow of colors.  Very very pretty.

Interestingly, as we drove and walked around, I got the feeling of less traffic and less craziness.  The drivers still barge right ahead, but appear to stop for people in crosswalks.  There are definitely less cars on the road than in Beijing and Xian.  Maybe because it's Saturday night, but that doesn't seem too good an explanation.  More as the week progresses.

Friday Oct 1 Xian

Another non-descript all-inclusive breakfast at the hotel.

Li picked us up and we started off for the Banpo Museum.  This traced the history of the area concentrating on Neolithic times.  There had been an archeological site nearby, which prompted the authorities to create the museum.  It was actually very interesting, showing the earliest stone tools, pottery, and graves, dating back to 7000BCE.  The explanations did not exactly trace the development of this civilization, or give dates or a good time line, but we could tell from the creativity and complexity of the items where things came in.  There was a diorama of life of this era, with a wonderful explanation of the tribal life with everyone equal as a sort of "primitive communism".  Politics enters everything.  The actual site is preserved with explanations of the apparent home building practices with post holes noted.  There was even one house with 3 obvious layers of post holes, indicating successive buildings at that exact site.

On our way to the Terra Cotta Warriors, we had to stop at another factory.  This had the largest showroom we have seen yet, with more and more schlock.  And to top it off, the prices were higher than anything we've had yet.  They just don't stop.

We got to the Terra Cotta Warrior site and walked in.  Again, more and more people.  There are 3 excavations, with huge enclosures over each.  We started with a cheesy movie in 360 degree format (not Imax as we were told it would be).  It looked like it was filmed in the 70's.  I laughed through it all.  The warriors were built for Quin Shi Huang, the first emperor who united China at the Qin Dynasty from 220-207BCE.  He was also they guy who started the Great Wall.  The warriors themselves were destroyed after his death, and were discoved in 1974.  They have been reconstructed since.  The hall places thousands of these warriors all in a row.  Fascinating to see what a megalomaniac with absolute control can do.  Supposedly, he had 1/3 of the kingdom working on this project.

It was raining as we left, but we had to walk through the shopping street.  I saw one couple try to take the shorter route out through the "in" walkway, and was rebuffed by a soldier.

More traffic back to the hotel.  The drivers here are crazy crazy crazy!  Red lights mean nothing.  Turning left or right means nothing.  Just go.  I almost broke Ann's fingers half a dozen times in the near misses.  Changing lanes?  Just go.  Motor cycles or pedestrians near by?  So what?  Just go.  They can take care of themselves.

Then the coup de grace:  Dinner theater.  We had another tourista meal, with mystery meat and mystery fish.  The dumplings at the beginning were half decent, and the orange tapioca stuff at the end was sorta ok.  Everything in the middle was forgettable.  During dinner, we were "entertained" by a female musical group wearing ancient costumes playing ancient music on ancient instruments.  Then came the show of shows.  This was an "extravaganza" of native dancers in colorful costumes prancing around the stage.  Why China promotes this to tourists is beyond me, other than the bucks they get for this.  It would be as if every tourist coming to America had to see a Native American dance show.  It has nothing to do with anything of today or even of the recent past.  During the performance there was a guy playing a Pai Xiao, which is some kind of a wind lute instrument.  He supposedly is very famous, but I had to leave as it hurt my ears.  Ann stuck it out till the end of the show.

Maybe Shanghai will be better, but I'm not holding my breath.

Thursday Sep 30 - Xian

Plane flight to Xian.  1.5 hours; no great shakes.

We were picked up by our guide, Li, and our driver, "Mr. John".  The air here is totally gray from smog.  My eyes burn.  Uggh. The airport was about an hour from Xian, and we first went to lunch.  More typical tourist fare.  It seems our lunches will consist of this.  So touristy they gave us forks and knives, no chopsticks.  I wasn't sure I remembered, but somehow I did.

We toured the Buddhist pagoda from the 7^th century.  It was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty in commemoration of the monk, Rabbi Xuanzang, who walked to India to study and then walked back after 17 years with a load of books on his back.  I don't know why he was called Rabbi, but that's what was on the signs depicting his life.  Maybe he was from one of the lost tribes??? 

While we were walking around, my little camera slipped from my hands and fell directly onto the lens mechanism.  It was completely bent and destroyed.  Bah.  I still have my Canon, but that's the end of the videos.

We went from there to the city wall to look around.  Since the October 1 National Holiday is upon us, there are red lanterns and flags all around.  Essentially, this is the Chinese July 4.  The tradition is for everyone to get up early to watch the flag raising in the central town square.  Supposedly there will be over 1 million people in Beijing.  We are not far from the main square at our hotel here, so we might get up to watch it.  Or not.

In planning for tomorrow, Li mentioned that we could go to a terra cotta factory.  This is becoming a theme here of going to the "factory" and being quickly ushered into the showroom.  We tried to beg off, but she was very persistent at "not wanting to push us".  So we'll go to kill some of the time and to let her think she's doing her job.  They are very pushy in trying to "satisfy" us, whether we want it or not.

Dinner tonight is on our own.  When we asked, we were steered to the restaurants here in the hotel.  I think we'll take a walk.

 

So we took our walk.  We went past the central square of town and saw the flag lowering ceremony.  Traffic stopped while the army squad paraded to the flagpole and lowered the flag.  The national anthem played, and people were singing.  The patriotism was palpable.

We continued our walk searching for a restaurant.  We walked and walked.  This is a city of 7 million, and it seemed most of them were on the street.  People walking everywhere.  The stores were open selling clothes and electronics.  But no restaurants.  I briefly considered buying a new camera, but decided against it.  The traffic is crazy, and crossing a street is taking your life in your hands.  Many cars and motorbikes and bicycles have no lights on, making them even more dangerous.  No one stops.  Cross walks? Hah!  Ann got freaked.  We never found a restaurant that had a menu we could understand.  At one, we couldn't even get them to figure out we wanted to look at a menu before sitting down.  So we finally made our way back to our hotel to eat there.  A "Moroccan" restaurant.  Hmmmm.  Hummus without cumin.  Tasteless couscous.  Ann's schwarma was half decent.  We got what was coming to us.

Wednesday the 29th

The Great Wall.  One of the largest man-made objects in the world.  The only man-made object visible from space.  First begun in the 1400's in the Ming Dynasty, it now travels 8818 km across China.  It was originally supposed to keep out the invading Mongols and Manchus from the west and north, but later when those groups became incorporated into Greater China, it was less important. 

We drove about an hour from Beijing (Bei – north; jing – capital) to one section of the wall.  As soon as Ann saw the steep steps and incline, she opted to watch.  Osteoarthritic hips and steep stairs such as these are not great friends.  I decided to carry on.  I took my camera bag and began the ascent.  My knees and back help out pretty well, as did my heart.  My lungs, however, were another story.  I was huffing and puffing (with a lot of the other ancient travelers – and a lot of the young ones as well), but with a few stops, was able to get up the steep section of the trail.  I could have gone farther, but with that many miles more, when does one stop?  I took out my camera to find the battery had run down in the bag since the switch had been left "on", so all I had was my little camera.  I took a bunch of pictures, and had some fellow travelers take some of me.  This camera is movie capable, so I took some panorama views as well.  Coming down was another adventure, as the steep steps and weak quads are not always compatible.  I did make it down to meet Ann and Mei Ping. 

We went to the touristy Jade Market for lunch, along with all the other tourists.  It seems the guides take all the auslanders to these places.  We saw the demonstration for about 3 minutes and were quickly ushered in to the showroom so we could shop shop shop.  Needless to say, we had seen this coming, and weren't particularly interested.  Ann did find some little jade lions and was able to negotiate much better prices with the usually non-negotiating staff.  Again the lunch wasn't worth describing.

After lunch, we went to the Ming Tombs.  This was the burial ground of all 13 Ming emperors.  It was designed and built by the 3^rd emperor, Zhu Di, also known as Chang or Yongle, in the early 1400's.   He had moved the capital of China from Nanjing (Nan – south; jing – capital) to Dadu and renamed it Beijing (north capital).  He built the Forbidden City.  The complex was somewhat impressive, with the many large gold-roofed buildings.  They are, however, not in great repair, as plants are seen growing from the tiles of the roof.  I am beginning to learn a bit of Chinese history here, and I think there is more to learn next in Xian.

Back to the city.  We made an unplanned stop at the Olympic site, since Mei Ping was embarrassed by our tardiness yesterday to the theater.  We saw the Water Cube, the Birds Nest, and many of the other venues.  This was as close to an Olympics as I've ever gotten.  Fun.

Dinner in the hotel for western comfort food – Italian.  It really was good to have a pizza and minestrone after a week of noodles and rice.  We chatted with the Maitre d', a nice Indian guy about Paul's age who was very engaging and friendly.  He has been to various parts of China and the East, and would love to do more traveling.  A nice conversation.

So, what to think about Beijing?  This place is crazy and frenetic.  Crazier drivers than New York.  Pushier people than Jerusalem.  So many people crowded and trying to do the same thing.  A disjointed history where there were significant gaps in what we were being told.  We had long conversations with our guide about the direction of the country.  From her perspective of a 30-something, China is improving.  She contrasted her life with that of her parents (about our age) who grew up in the 60's & 70's, which was not exactly an easy time here.  She thinks things began changing in the mid 80's and continues to expand her horizons.  She gave us a nice compliment, noticing how compatible we were, and we gave here some parental advice on a long lasting relationship and on parenting.

Tomorrow to Xian and more early history.

Tuesday the 28th

We met up with our guide, Mei Pei and went to Teinamen Square  In the west, it is what many people know or remember about China.  It is large, larger than Chiang Kai Sheks's square in Taipei, larger than Red Square in Moscow.  It is smaller than the Mall, but is completely paved.  Security required to get in, and cameras everywhere.  Police and army readily visible.  Probably, many plain-clothes officers around also.  Chairman Mao's mausoleum on one side, with large lines waiting to get in.  People everywhere.  Lots of flowers for the upcoming Peoples Day ceremonies on October 1.  The entrance to the Forbidden City is on one side, with a huge picture of Chairman Mao.  More people everywhere.  We cross the street to get to the entrance.  Fighting through the crowds of people, including school groups in their uniforms, tour groups with their leaders with little flags and boom boxes and microphones, and more people.  Did I mention it was crowded?

The Imperial City / Forbidden City complex is huge, measuring 1.5 miles long.  It is built along a central axis, with multiple entrance gates as one goes farther in.  There are often 5 archways leading into each subsequent area.  The center was reserved for the emperor, and the lower ranked officials were moved further away.  In fact, only the emperor was allowed to walk on the central line.  There were moats with 5 bridges, 5 sets of stairs as one ascended the entranceways, etc.  Much of the complex has been restored, but much still needs to be done, as the paint is faded and peeling in many places.  According to legend, evil spirits only travel on the ground, and cannot lift their legs.  Thus each entrance or doorway has a raised threshold of a foot or so that you have to raise your leg to climb over.  This prevents the evil spirits from getting in. 

We continued to penetrate deeper into the city until we got to the main areas for the emperor and the officials and the empress and the concubines.  With all the events of the last 100 years since the downfall of the last emperor and the communist takeover in 1949, there really wasn't a lot left.  Most of the buildings had fresh paint, and there was a small museum of the porcelains and cloisonné objects.   The gold roofs of the buildings and the dragon and phoenix motifs were everywhere.  We got a lot of history about Tsu Hsi, or Cixi, the "Dowager Empress" or the Dragon Lady.  She ruled in the background for decades, as the "voice behind the screen".  I guess its time for me to watch The Last Emperor.

Nondescript lunch at a tourist trap they took us to.  We do better on the street.

On the way to the Summer Palace, we were talked into going to the Silk store.  This is a government operation for the tourists.  We did see the cute little silkworms, and how the make the cocoons.  I never did understand how the silk was gotten from the cocoons, but they really do unwind it 1 little strand at a time.  They weave 8 together as a real strand, which then is weaved into a fabric.  Then came the hard sell.  We did get a duvet cover for a reasonable price; reasonable being defined as less than we would pay in the west.  At least we were pretty sure it was genuine.

The Summer Palace on the outskirts of town was a smaller representation of the Forbidden City.  It did have a very lovely garden, with statues and large rocks recovered from lake beds in interesting shapes.  The cypress trees were hundreds of years old.  There was a long corridor that CiXi would walk, with a view of the large lake.  We took a dragon boat across the lake to be picked up by the driver.

Traffic into town and we were late for the Kung Fu Ballet.  Again, the drivers in this place are crazy, and would make a New York cabbie blush and recoil in fright.  The performance was nice, but still touristy.

 

On of these days, I'll find the time to organize our pictures and upload them to illustrate this trip.

Monday the 27th

Up early to get to airport for a 9am flight.  Cab to the fast airport train, and 20 minutes to the airport.  I've got to say that the airports in Asia seem to be much better organized and have better infrastructure than any I've seen in the US.  Just having free carts is a major plus.

Thoughts on Hong Kong:

I am again amazed at the verticality of this city.  There are so many high rise buildings that it boggles the mind.  Eve on the train to the airport, there were dozens of high rises in what appeared to be the industrial/shipping area.  Hong Kong is one of the busiest ports in the world, but I saw in today's Washington Post (now that I finally got my wifi working) that the Chinese government is proposing to transform Shanghai into a major financial/shipping zone by 2020.  Maybe they are anticipating a change in Hong Kong's status at the end of the "Special Relationship" period ending in 2047.

 

We got to Beijing on an easy flight.  The airport was huge, but efficient.  We got through passport control as well as customs with ease, once we found our bags.  We were met by Mei Ping, who also goes by the name of "Silver".  We drove into town to our hotel in the central area, and checked in.  We had a free afternoon, so we went to the "Silk Market", which has everything under the sun in 6 floors of little stalls.  As you walk in, the clerks were literally grabbing your arm to pull you into their stall to sell you something, anything.  Bargaining is crazy, and they are very aggressive and relatively nasty when you say no.  Ann was looking for beads and pearls for Ellen, and found some at a reasonable price.  After a while, I couldn't stand it and waited outside.  Even there, people were trying to sell stuff.  Socks, watches, gloves, etc etc etc.  Negotiating for a cab back was fun also, as 3 cabbies didn't want to bother and refused to take us.

After a nap, we went out to walk to get dinner.  We went to the "Walking Street", which one would think was like the open air markets of Taipei.  Not on your life.  This was glitz central.  Every brand you can think of, and many I never heard of.  Mercedes, Rolls, Lambhorgini stores next to each other.  Rolex, Hermes, Van Cleef & Arpels, and more.  A cell phone store that looked like a jewelry store with phones locked in cases.  There was a kiosk of candy, and people were rushing in, well, like a kid in a candy store.  Everything is frenetic.  The traffic is crazy; lights don't matter; turning lanes don't matter; pedestrians are on their own.  Everyone is out to make a buck, and those who have the bucks want to spend it and show off their bling.

Dinner was at a little restaurant we found and I had real beef & broccoli with Chinese broccoli.  I had been told we couldn't get what we would otherwise consider Chinese food, but this was outstanding.  Ann had the eggplant.  As good as it was, we couldn't finish.  Too bad we couldn't get a doggie bag.

Tomorrow Tiennamen, Forbidden Palace and more.

Sunday

Lazy morning. Slowly got ourselves up and made our way to the History Museum. Stopped at Starbucks on the way to get coffee. When we got to the museum, I realized I had left my unipod back at the Starbucks and had to double back to get it. We had been told this is a safe city with little crime, and it was confirmed by my unipod still being there.


The Hong Kong History Museum traced the evolution of Hong Kong back to 1 million years ago. After they got past the first almost million years, they got to the past 10,000 years which were more interesting. They had some of the development of pottery from the first inhabitants, and how it became more detailed and glazed. The earliest peoples fought wars, and moved back and forth from the mainland. The various dynasties of China (Han, Qin, Ming, etc.) came and went. The British came in the 1850s for trade. They first mostly bought things from the Chinese, but soon realized they were losing out in the balance of payments. So they introduced opium to provide something for the population to buy back from them. Hmmmm. The museum itself was very well put together, with large rooms of multiple artifacts from all periods of history. It was so big, however, that Ann and I became separated, so I did the last half by myself. We finally met at the end.

Lunch at an outdoor café. The food itself was nondescript (Sorry, Adrienne). But the conversation with our neighbors was very weird. These were 2 Americans who were working for the “Chinese Royal Family”. It seems that the Royal family is still fabulously wealthy and controlling things. Back in 1758, George Washington borrowed over $1 billion in gold from the family, and every 10 years every president and leader has signed a pledge to pay it back. Now it is over $10 trillion. About 1/3 of the continental US is pledged to this royal family. Huh? They are more powerful than the Jewish banker, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, and Lehman Brothers. Huh? The reason Lehman Brothers collapsed is because the royal family decided not to lend them any more money. Huh? We quickly ate our food and left.

We met Kathy for a trip to the top of Victoria Peak, overlooking Hong Kong Island. We took the 15 bus up the mountain, sitting in the first row of the upper deck of the bus. Interesting, going around the tight curves. We got to the top for the spectacular view. Hong Kong is a very vertical city, and you could see down on top of all the buildings. These are easily 40-50 stories, and there were hundreds of buildings that high, as far as the eye could see in either direction. Most of these buildings have been built since the 80’s.

We took the tram down, and went to the JCC to see the synagogue. It was in the Sephardic tradition, with the bima in the center. Very reminiscent of the synagogue in London.

We met back up with Stuart, her husband, and we drove to the south side of the island for dinner at a little hole in the wall restaurant in Stanley. Traditional Chinese/Thai food. Fried noodles with chicken, tofu, eggplant, curried noodles, and the garlic green similar to what we had in Taipei. Yum.

Early plane tomorrow to Beijing.

Saturday

Early flight back to Hong Kong. We took the train into town which was surprisingly fast and efficient. Nothing in DC or anywhere in the US compares. Our hotel in the Khaloom section of the city overlooks the harbor. Very impressive.


This is a very vertical city. Hundreds of skyscrapers, which are very thin. Many of the buildings are only one room wide. It’s like many toothpicks standing in the air.

We took the Metro to the Jade market, and spent the afternoon haggling with vendors for jade beads for Ellen. We walked back to the hotel to take in the sites, but realized it was long. Ann’s other hip is giving out, and it is not always happy with long walks, despite her desire to do the walking.

We met up with an old friend Kathy Chiron and her husband who have lived here for 10 years now. We took the Star Ferry across the harbor and got a cab to their apartment. Dinner at the historic Correspondents Club where reporters over the ages have gathered to share news and drinks. Very colonial looking with dark wood and carpeting. Old fading newspaper headlines on the wall - :”VJ Day”, “Nixon Resigns”, “MacArthur Relieved of Command”, etc.

Exhausted, we took the ferry back across the harbor and watched the lights of the city across the water.

Friday

A late slow morning. We wandered over to Paul’s apartment and hung out until we were able to say hello to Harry via Skype. He was supposed to be around at 9:00 but wasn’t found until 11:00. Aah, the life of a college student.

We finally got our act together to go out for lunch at the local Chinese schmorgasboard. This was a collection of many different colors, textures and tastes that is particular to Chinese society. I didn’t recognize some of the foods, but took some of what seemed most interesting. I didn’t take the tofu, but Ann and Ellen and Paul did. There were various chicken dishes, veggies, and meats. Probably the best was the broccoli. Also included was the rice, soup, tea and desert. Supposedly they were supposed to weigh it, but the lady eyeballed the plate and gave a price. Who was I to argue for $2 per person???

After lunch we took the Metro to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. Chiang was, in Paul’s words, “the greatest loser of the 20th century”. The square surrounding it was huge; one of the largest open place I’ve seen. The memorial itself is at one end, and 2 huge buildings, the National Theater and National Symphony Hall were flanking the sides. The architecture of the theater and symphony were traditional Chinese, with red roofs and golden ornamentation. The memorial was white with a blue roof, and an opening reminiscent of Lincoln.

We got to the memorial and up the hundred stairs in time for the changing of the guard. This was a ceremony similar to Arlington or London, with the peculiar Chinese way of stepping and strutting in their military precision.

The memorial, as I said, was reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial. Chiang sitting there in a large hall. There was some writing on the sides, but otherwise very stark. Downstairs, there was an exhibit to his life and works, mostly consisting of pictures of his childhood, his early military career, his association with Sun Yat Sen, and the glorious re-taking of Formosa from the Japanese at the end of WW2. Then it jumps from 1949 to 1968 with no mention of any of the events in between. Hmmmmm. The reproduction of his desk and office with him there in wax reminded me of the Truman library with the Oval Office reproduction and it reminded Ann of Ben Gurion’s office in Sde Boker.

We went back to rest, and were going to go with Paul to the Night Market for dinner, but the BBC called him for an interview with Owen Bennett Jones about GastroDiplomacy. So we went and left Paul. It was a moderate disaster for both. The night market was like many others, but with unrecognizable foods and smells. The worst was the “Stinky Tofu”, which really did. We did manage to eat some waffle-like things stuffed with beans, custard and other goodies. A Taiwanese couple we met who was explaining to us offered some of their spicy chicken feet. I was able to get in one bite but couldn’t swallow. Luckily I was able to turn around before I spit it out. We finally ate an omelet type thing that didn’t look to have anything non-edible in it. Ellen found something that looked like a spring-roll but she had to convince them to only put the veggies in without the pork.

We got back to Paul only to find out that his interview got scrapped in the middle due to “technical difficulties” with the Skype or any kind of audio connection with London. He was VERY frustrated that he hadn’t spent the evening with us and couldn’t even get the publicity in either.

Teary good-byes to Paul & Ellen as we left. Ann marveled over and over how taken in she had been about the surprise. We probably won’t see Paul for a year or so as he wanders through Malaysia and gets to South Africa in January. He might need to come home this spring for a Fulbright interview, if he gets that far in the process. We’ll see….

Thursday

Still working on getting to this time zone.  I awoke at 4, and couldn't get back to sleep until 8.  Paul and Ellen & Sam arrived at 9 while I was still in the shower.
After breakfast and some coffee, we headed to the National Palace Museum.  This is the collection of all the objects that the Nationalists took/stole on the way out of the Forbidden City and Palace in 1949.  It is an immense collection of objects including paintings, ceramics, jade, bronze, official documents, etc. dating to the beginnings of China in the Neolithic Period of 9000-7000 BCE.  (That's "Before the Common Era", a phrase also used by other non-Christians, especially in the Middle East).  We all sort of split up, and I walked with Paul.  We worked our way through the various collections, beginning with the official documents of the Emperors to other writings.  Many of the objects had English explanations as well as Chinese and Japanese.

The museum traced the art of the emperors from late Paleolithic times through the Qing Dynasty of the 1800’s, ending in 1911.  The tracing of the development of porcelain from 5000 BCE to its heights in the 1800’s is fascinating.  Even in the 1200’s and 1300’s these people were making delicate and beautiful work while the Europeans were barely able to make a pot.  One could see the influences from century to century as people moved back and forth across the continents, and influenced each other.  What we call Delftware from England and Holland of the 1700’s was being produced in the 1500s and 1600s in China.

Lunch at the museum was “traditional” Taiwanese fare:  Noodles & soup, shrimp rolls and a type of shrimp toast with a corn and shrimp and veggie filling.  Also was our favorite, the fried calamari.

After lunch the crowds took over the museum, including hundreds of scouts in their white and blue uniforms.  Since they were teenagers, they were mostly bored, and playing with each other.  Paul, however, was able to amuse them as we were standing next to a porcelain figurine of an emperor with his hand raised, and Paul assumed the same position.  Of course, they cracked up and waved and played back.

After the museum, the skies opened up.  It rained for the rest of the day.  We holed up at Paul’s apartment and read.  Sushi for dinner at a local place.  Why Sushi as a “Chinese” food?  Japan owned this island for many years until WW2 and there are many residual Japanese influences.

Another note on the Taiwanese people.  My impression is that they are very similar to Americans.  I’m speaking about their dress, their mannerisms, and their body language.  It appears to me that this is a very American city, as opposed to a European one.  In Europe, people hold themselves differently and for me, at least, are fairly obvious as different from America.  Here, not so much.  My impression was the same in Rio, as opposed to Buenes Aires which is of the European character.  In Rio, people looked and acted like Americans until they began to speak.  Here, obviously, the faces are different, but the feel is similar.  One difference here is the politeness and orderliness.  People line up at the subway rather than crowd the doors as I’ve seen everywhere else in the world, especially Washington.  There are lines painted on the floor of the platform and people que up for each subway door.

Wednesday

Wednesday

Well, we pulled it off. We were too late to see Paul last night, so he came over this morning. He told the story that our hotel was haunted, since it was on the site of an old prison. Then there was a knock on the door, and Paul said, “It must be a ghost”. Ann opened the door and Ellen was standing there. We had arranged for her to get here yesterday from Seattle, and she was going to spend a few days with us and then travel a bit on her own with her friend, Sam. Ann was totally flabbergasted. After 4-5 months of careful planning, secret emails, clandestine checks, laundered money, hushed whispers into the phone, and careful shushing while Skyping, we had completely left her in the dark about this surprise. It was really wonderful. She had absolutely no idea it was coming.

So we went out for a little breakfast at Flora Café, and were taking pictures, and the Taiwanese family next to us were also taking pictures, so we all started taking pictures of each other and had the staff take pictures of all 10-15 of us. Fun personal diplomacy. No one spoke the other’s language, but all were smiling.

We then went to Teipei101, the largest building in Taiwan. 101 floors, towering over the metropolis, with definite Asian architecture of 8 sections. Eight is a lucky number, so the building had the right “feng shui”. We took the fastest elevator in the world (certified by Guiness) up to the observation deck at floor 98. It was a very impressive view, to say the least. Taipei is situated among 3 rivers and in a valley of large mountains. We could see all around for miles. We saw the exhibit of the dampers which keeps the building from swaying too much in the wind and, I guess, in earthquakes. They have even popularized the concept with the cute little “Damper Babies” who are character representations of the engineering structure. Sort of like IM Pei meets Disney. Of course there were souvenir shops everywhere, from Jade to more Damper Babies to the mall in the bottom floors that you HAD to exit through.

After that, we began a religious expedition. Today being the full moon in fall led to the “Mid-Autumn Festival” of the 3 main faiths, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. We visited a temple of each to observe the customs and to look at the architecture. People were burning incense and offering fruits to the gods/spirits, and in other places the tradition is to burn paper in outdoor receptacles. It looked like any type of paper would do, as most of it looked like old newsprint or napkins. At the Buddhist temple, the incense smoke was overwhelming to me and I had to leave and get out to the “fresh” air (which wasn’t a whole lot better).

As dusk fell, we worked our way to the Night Market, which could have been the Shuk, the 9^th Street Italian Market in Philadelphia, or Pike Place Market in Seattle. The difference was the types of foods and object offered. One does not normally see snakes, live turtles, shrimp and other unknown crustaceans, and other un-mentionables being offered for sale. I saw no fruits or vegetables.

We went back to Paul’s apartment to pick up his roommate, Ken, who took us to Din Tai Fung, a restaurant serving local Chinese food. We had steamed dumplings of chicken, shrimp, and veggies, which were wonderful. There was also spiced cucumbers, stir fried cabbage, and a garlicky spinach-like green which was delish. Dinner for 6, 2000 NTD, or about $60US. The restaurant, as with so many other places here, was brimming with employees, all of them most willing to serve and make our experience pleasant. A lost concept in America.   

First Day

What day is this? Wednesday, I think.

A looooong day. Never let it be said that a 14 1/2 hour plane ride is short. Getting to JFK airport from Philly was a breeze, and parking and the little train ride to the terminal was fine. We stopped into the Duty Free store and they were sampling the most delicious flavored liquors. We bought the mango and coffee to carry to Paul, since I didn’t want to carry them with us for the next 2 weeks. Since we were flying business class, we were allowed in the Cathay Pacific / British Air lounge. We made a few phone calls, answered some email, and munched on the sandwiches and fruit. Ann went to buy a neck pillow, and could only come up with one that had “I (heart) NY” plastered all over it. Ugghh.

The plane was called, and we were off. The business class was a new experience. Individual pods or cocoons tilted sideways to the aisle, with enough room to lie back and really get horizontal. Nice view of NYC as we took off, and turned to fly over Long Island and the Sound to go over New England. I took some Tylenol PM, had some drinks, turned on Broadway music on the entertainment system, and fell asleep somewhere between Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera. I awoke 6 hours later, and realized we STILL had over 8 hours left in the air.

The route took us over the North Pole, over Russia and Siberia, west of Beijing to get to Hong Kong. The plane’s video system had a little map to follow the plane’s progress, and it gave a North Pole/Polaris view of the trip. A little weird to see it from that angle. It was dark out then, so there was not much to see. Even when it got lighter, the cloud cover was too great, and I never really see anything out the window. I busied myself with a Wrist fracture DVD that took a few hours. It helped that there was a regular plug at the seat for the computer. A few hours on the Kindle (Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond. More when I finish it). Some food. More reading. Ann slept through most of the trip, growling at me when I tried to wake her at about 2:00 and again at 3. Whether that was AM or PM, I couldn’t really be sure. Trying to switch 12 hours produces a lot of jet lag. Being horizontal made it soooo much more endurable. Backs and hips at our advancing ages (!) don’t take kindly to sitting that long.

It was dark already as we landed in Hong Kong in the rain. Thankfully, the typhoon had passed, and it was only rain. We disembarked and headed to our next gate for the flight to Teipei. There wasn’t much time, or so we thought. Once we got on the plane, the captain announced that one runway was closed due to a cargo plane running into a ditch (I guess the typhoon was stronger than he thought), and takeoffs were delayed by 2 hours. They were pleasant enough and fed us and plowed us with drinks. A cute 3 year old 2 rows away with a very annoying video game. I finally had to ask the parents to turn off the sound.

We got to Teipei at midnight or so and were greeted with a sign saying that drug trafficking is punishable by death. Cute. Such fun-loving people,

Getting money from the ATM was fun. Ann convinced me to get $100, and I got a nice shiny 100 Taiwan dollar note. Then we realized that the exchange rate was 30 to the US dollars, so I nicely had about $3US in my hand. So back to the ATM to do it again for more. Well see how much my bank charges me for that stupidity. An hour bus ride into the city and finally to our hotel in the city center. We collapsed into bed at 2AM, but still being on east coast time, it was hard to fall asleep.   

Beginning of the Road

3AM, Philadelphia @ the Watermark

So we are on the road. One might wonder why I'm up now. I know I am. One reason might be that I am trying to get on Taiwan time, 12 hours ahead. That might be a good assumption, but it would be wrong. We ate last night at a wonderful Thai restaurant in Philly, Trio, (Hi, Adrienne) which really was good. The first time. Now it isn't as much fun. I had the Drunken Noodles, and now my stomach has the hangover. Ah, well, I hope this doesn't portend other GI indiscretions in the future. And I was laughing at Ann for her Chinese food paranoia!